Websites to look for accommodation in Cambodia

@Bhavna hi do there exsist any housing for rent websites that advertise not only Phnom Penh?

Hi Oshudofsky,

Very interesting question ! I have created a new topic from your post on the Cambodia forum so that members can help out.

Till then, you can have a look at our housing in Cambodia section.

All the best

Bhavna

Hi. There are a number of websites which list out rentals. If you search on rentals in Cambodia on google you can find companies that provide rental listings  for a variety of places besides Phnom Penh. Each of the sites contains costing information, location, and a contact person. I have used IPS Cambodia in the past. I live in Siem Reap and I think there is a nice mix of things here. If you want to consider other places perhaps Battambang might be interesting for you?  For me, Siem Reap just works. I have both expat and Khmer friends here and I really like the cuisine, being close to Angkor Wat temple complexes, Tonle Sap Lake and it is one of the three cities that has an international airport. I do like going outside of Cambodia especially to Vietnam. Now is high season for tourism so there are a lot of visitors here. There is a really dynamic street food scene serving a variety of Khmer foods along the river. The city has improved infrastructure significantly and it has made Siem Reap walkable to most places. I live quite close but not in the downtown area.

If you will be getting a retirement extension of stay to live here, it is easy to secure a visa agent here or in most cities in Cambodia. I got my last extension of stay in Phnom Penh with a reputable agent there. My landlady here in Siem Reap also provides visa services.

Take care.

@mpmilestogo thank you for your help. Siem Reap sounds indeed good only it is quiet a long trip to reach the beach. Would love to chat with you about your experience in living there and if some of the kind of horror stories are indeed true like : you should not get ill over there because of the poor health care facilities, that it stinks in lot of places due to garbage dumped randomly. That you will indeed be very prone to accidents if you drive your moped around....etc. etc.

One reason that I would consider moving to Cambodia is the scuba diving and being near to the other great scuba diving countries like Thailand, Malaysia, even Indonesia and Philipines. You say you like to travel to Vietnam. Do you drive yourself or how do you travel to the other countries? I saw there are good busses going to Thailand for example?

To be honest: I am having difficulties deciding between the 2 countries that are left for me to choose from (easy entry, low cost of living, warm weather) Mauritius and (a lot different:) Cambodia

I don't drive here in Siem Reap at all. I walk everywhere or take a tuktuk. Siem Reap would not be a good choice if you want quick access to the ocean. I would probably look at Sihanoukville or Kep or something like that. I have had one minor issue here and I went to the local health center and saw a Khmer doctor. I had no real problems. My Khmer friend went with me. I don't know the horror stories here. The city has improved its infrastructure with new sidewalks and bike lanes, new traffic lights, etc. If you want something completely clean with no trash, I don't think anywhere in Cambodia will make you happy. I have had no other problems. I enjoy living daily in Siem Reap. The people are kind and authentic, I have a Khmer woman friend here that is fun to be with.

I just got back from a month in Vietnam during their Tet or Lunar New Year celebrations. Had a great time. I flew to Saigon from Siem Reap direct. Took 45 minutes.

Speaking honestly for the things you want, you may want to look at other places. Have you visited Cambodia before?

@mpmilestogo I have never visited Cambodia before and I am about to retire there in the next few weeks . I am a 75 year old woman on my own and I could do with all the advice possible

I retired 4 months ago to Siem Reap   70 yr old yank.  Highly recommend this town. clean air walkable, very friendly people, My modern apt with AC kitchen bathroom and balcony is $130 a month. I dont drink or smoke so I spend about $600 a month for everything. Modern supermarkets great cafes.........

you can check facebook marketplace housing siem reap cambodia

@Shamrockleaf Hi. Well best thing you could do is make a visit before but it sounds like you are ready to retire and go. What you might like in a place may be way different than me so advice is hard if you have not been. I will say Cambodia is a wonderful place to retire and live a good life. You have to accept how Cambodia is right now. There are places where there is poverty. Other places of extreme beauty. If living on a fixed income like most of us are here, it can be very nice because prices are just lower for most things. You can look at sites for cost comparisons and cost for necessities and luxuries. I do a bit of both. I chose Siem Reap to live because of a few factors. I had lived here before the pandemic and grew to love the city. To me, it has all the needs for life. There is an international airport which I use occasionally. Food is very diverse and good from Khmer cuisine to Italian. The Khmer people are very welcoming and friendly. As I wrote before, Siem Reap has improved its infrastructure significantly. Sidewalks and bike lanes are all over now and walking is easy in most places. I don't do scooters and prefer to walk and take tuktuks.

Cambodia is primarily a cash economy and they accept US dollars as well as the Riel. I only use Riel these days. I just got used to figuring out how much a thing was or using a simple app on my iPhone.

You will want a retirement visa extension. There are posts here on the forum about how to do that. It is very easy with a visa agent. This last time I stopped in Phnom Penh a few weeks to see some friends and get the visa extension from Kim in Phnom Penh. It cost $300 and it took three days but most often she will say longer. The visa gives you multiple entry. I think it is an excellent deal. You may want to research medical care. You can find medical coverage and pay an annual or quarterly payment.

It is hard to sum up all the goods and try to also tell you it's not all good. Like most places it is a mix of good and bad things. I love living here in Siem Reap and I've been fortunate to meet a few expat friends here and also some very nice Khmer people. I think Siem Reap is very safe for a single person. One should just keep things like expensive phones and laptops or cameras and purses under control like in most places. You can also just come here and see if you like it. If not, Kampot is very nice too. There are other choices as well. I personally would not live in Phnom Penh. I have before and the city is way too busy for me.

Hard to say anything else without knowing your interests and what it is you would like to do when coming here to live. I came here to have fun, eat good, do some walking and photography, visit Angkor Wat as many times as I could want. I live pretty comfortably on what I make and I can travel in Southeast Asia easily from Cambodia. I went to Vietnam for the first time in two years just a few weeks back.

Hope this helps a bit.

@oshuI               retired 4 months ago to Siem Reap   70 yr old yank.  Highly recommend this town. clean air walkable, very friendly people, My modern apt with AC kitchen bathroom and balcony is $130 a month. I dont drink or smoke so I spend about $600 a month for everything. Modern supermarkets great cafes......... I found my aptarment on Facebook market place Siem Reap Housing.           dofsky

@Leon French

Second time you post this...

@oshudofsky    I used Facebook marketplace to find my apt in Siem Reap, you can also contact real estate agents in the area you are interested in.

@mpmilestogo thank you for your reply.  I have travelled to the surrounded counties but strangely never to cambodia.  And indeed I know that not seeing plastic is not possible in Asia.  I am rather looking towards Kampot because of closeness to the beaches and PP.

I indeed found some renting companies but it will still be a year that I will be able to retire and first I am planning a visit next January 😀.  But I always liked those countries  their people and the food.  So probably I will not be disappointed 🙂

@mpmilestogo thank you and true that is hard to explain things if you don't know me. Well first of all I love scuba diving and as you said and I found out already that getting to the neighbouring countries for better diving is easy, not too expensive and, if I would go by bus, adventurous. That's a big plus for me. The food and people will again be 2 plusses. Easily getting around: another plus and the cheap and simple way of living is fine with me.

I love culture, nature and animals and would love to volunteer if I can make the animal life better.

I have a Tefl certificate and might do some voluntary work there too. I am also planning on learning a few basics of the Khmer language.

Are above items workable you think?

@Twiggy57 I think if you settle here with the intention of traveling by bus or flights to get what you need, Cambodia would be a fun and adventurous place. I've lived here a few times now on retirement extensions but this time has become special in many ways. I met a retired IBMer here some weeks ago who volunteered and loved it. He could have stayed on the retirement extension but decided to go back home and then make a decision.

My girl friend and I just got done riding buses and mostly minivans around Cambodia. We had a great time and met some really nice people along the way. It helps she is Khmer and will always translate or tell me new Khmer words I try to learn.

If you like being in a place that is not finished, still being built, with wonderful people, a variety of food and drink options, and also enjoy being outdoors, I think Cambodia is really a lot of fun. Retiring here has been the best move I've made. My first love has always been Vietnam but I figure now I am next door. I can fly to Saigon in about 45 minutes when I wish to go. We will go in April to Da Nang and Hoi An. There are direct flights from Siem Reap to a lot of destinations.

I am not so sure about teaching so I will defer to others to comment. I don't work here at all. I guess I am lazy or just had my fill of the whole work thing. Siem Reap gives me a nice place to just go for walks, take photos, do the things I love here. I do like to eat and drink so the food and beer here is very nice. We go out to a mix of Cambodian places like BBQ and different bars since my girl friend is from here. I also went to a wedding party here recently. That was interesting! Going to another in March.

@mpmilestogo Thank you again for your extended and nice reply. You of course have the advantage that your girlfriend is Khmer. Could you tell me how much about flights to the neighbouring countries will cost me and like you said too, going by minivans and buses, it will indeed be a great experience with meeting locals. It gives me energy already only to talk about it  .

Are you by any chance also familiar with Kampot ?

@oshudofsky hi. Well we went to Kampot and kep for Valentine’s Day. I like both places but we were kinda rushed so did not get to see some people I would have liked to. Kampot is a nice town but for me just to visit. My friend found apartment there for $160 a month but not furnished at all besides bed. We will go back to kep again for seafood and stay at resort hotel we were at. I bought minivan tickets from Siem reap to Phnom Penh and then the next day from Phnom Penh to Kampot. It cost about $30.  Cheaper if I just have my gf buy I think.

i just bought tickets to go from Phnom Penh to Da Nang via Saigon for two people in April. The cost for both of us was $575. It was more expensive to go from Siem reap airport so we will first take van to PP. Spend night. See her daughter in school there and then fly next day to Vietnam.

For me best way to research flights is to use Skyscanner app. You can easily save alerts and have the app do different searches. Another great app is 12go to look at all travel options between places.

hope this helps.

@mpmilestogo  Oh thats a pity that you had to rush through the towns. I will check out both places of course Siem Reep and Kampot. To see which vibe I like the most for settling.  I am amazed of the price from of $ 30,- isn't that expensive for such a country? Or is the distance that far that it is reasonable?

then on the other hand $600 for 2 people to Vietnam is of course a good deal. Yes I use Skyscanner also. The other website I don't know but will try it.

@oshudofsky I may have not been correct about the cost. I used 12go to get the tickets and my girl friend told me she could get the tickets directly for less. She always does that to me :-). I never thought it was so much to ride a bus for 5 hours for two of us but we also had to go to the bus office. With her doing the work, they will pick us up here. Now I cannot even go shopping with her. I guess the markets take one look and quote her higher prices. One day we were at the old market downtown and she asked about a blouse and they told her $6. I asked a minute later and the price had gone to $10. She grabbed my hand and complained walking away to the shop owner.  Mostly in Khmer but I think I got the essence of it. Maybe bus tickets work the same way. According to her, most things do.

@mpmilestogo yes unfortunately that's indeed the case. We are and will be forever "walking money machine". That's why I really want to learn to speak Khmer in the hope that it will help a bit by charging us same prices as the locals. 

@oshudofsky well I don’t think that will happen. You will just be a barang that speaks Khmer. Lol. Meanwhile I just go shopping in some places like Angkor supermarket with her and she goes shopping alone at 6th market. I do get to go buy one more little piece of furniture. Happy days!!!